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Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:20 am

I have a 1981 rabbit Truck/Caddy N/A 1.6 Diesel. Its in decent shape now but Im really wanting to pep it up a bit. Ive noticed some GTI parts will swap easily. Also some newer dashes bolt in Im told. What can I do to the Interior? Im looking to customize it by changing grilles bumpers lights and other exterior stuff but staying with vw parts from mk2s and gti stuff. Any Ideas or advice? What will swap? I'd like to go turbo if I could (later). Any input is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:39 am

You're on the right track. Seats, dashes, grills and the like will swap if they come from a Mk 1 Golf (Rabbit). Same is true for some Mk 1 Jetta parts and even some Mk 1 Scirocco parts. You have to be a little more careful with the latter two.

Some things are Pickup specific but they tend to be more obvious like taillights and rear suspension.

Swapping in a turbo diesel can be done. Volkswagen didn't offer the turbo diesel until the Mk 2 Golfs/Jettas so there will be some extra work involved with stuff like wiring and maybe engine mounts. This has been done so the obstacles can't be too insurmountable. Heck, you may even see a TDI swap now and then, but that will be even more involved.

For details like the engine swap, I would suggest going to VWVortex (Mk 1 forums).

I didn't go for a GTI swap since I was happy to leave my little diesel stock but swapping in a grill from a later Rabbit with horizontal slats was an instant visual improvement over the grill of squares my '81 originally had.

Laugh if you want but there were two other swaps that were worth the trouble and expense. One was the door vents. Even though I had the sliding glass back window and functioning air conditioning, there were plenty of times I could swing open or crack the vents. This was not cheap at all. Most people just convert the vent windows to a fixed closed position.

The other was the ash tray. This was a cheap fix once I found one that wasn't as screwed as most (like mine), but it was quite an adventure to find one that stayed shut on a bump and was the proper color. (I used mine to keep change handy, and having it dumped onto the floor was definitely not handy.) In the end, it was worth the search.

Other swaps like 4x100 wheels, GTI accessories, are easy to do but I would opt to eliminate the nuisances first.

Have fun. I sure miss my Pickup.

Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:11 am

Thanks. Im looking to swap in a later grille especially. I'd like to find the double-round headlight setup~ badgeless if possible. Doesnt that come from a gti rabbit or something? The single round headlights look good with a brow too. I saw a Scirocco complete dash online for $200. Looked like a sweet deal if it would work. Im told some dashes will bolt right in. I'd like to do a dash swap if it would be that simple. What door cards will swap in? I've also seen some 'euro' or later bumpers swapped onto these caddys. What works there?
Am i being too wishful thinking all this stuff will interchange so easily? I just want a cool caddy without trashing it up with aftermarket fiberglass and junk bolt-ons. I would rather stick to VW parts.

Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:28 am

Look into pre-1993 Cabriolets. They had grill lights. Early Sciroccos are nothing more than a handsome early Rabbits. I was always fascinated with the prospect of swapping the entire front end off of one onto a Pickup. (I saw a first generation Jetta front end swapped onto a Pickup. I personally didn't like the square headlights after the swap as much as I am okay with it on the Jetta itself.)

I don't know about dashes as far as how involved it would be but I have seen some pretty exotic stuff -- even second generation stuff being used. Hopefully, someone else has that answer.